Only the Rain Can Wash Away Our Sins
by Sparrowfeather1
Summary: Chris didn't realize the identity of his passenger until after the soaked man entered his car. They stopped, staring at each other for a long moment. And in that seemingly everlasting moment everything was still except for the sound of heartbeats and blood rushing everywhere it shouldn't. Peter Hale/Chris Argent Argale Slash! One-shot.


**I have recently discovered this pairing and I absolutely love it. Chris and Peter are some of my favorite character and they are absolutely amazing together. Oh. My. God. I really hope they have at least one scene together in 3b. Their personalities would mesh together well and either be super dramatic or hilarious.**

**In case it's not clear what's in _italics_ are flashbacks, it tends to alternate between current time and the past. I did the best I could to stay with appropriate timelines but nobody's perfect so forgive me if I'm a bit off on a detail or two.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf…unfortunately :(**

* * *

Everything looked more beautiful in the rain. Cleaner. All of the dirt and grime being stripped away from the streets and the people that dared walk through the torrential storm. The water baptized them, erased their sins and purified their souls. The rain could make even the most intimidating enemies look bare, soaked to the bone and completely disarmed.

Maybe that was why Chris didn't realize the identity of his passenger until after the soaked man entered his car. They stopped, staring at each other for a long moment. And in that moment everything was still except for the sound of heartbeats and blood rushing everywhere it shouldn't.

* * *

_"There's Scorpius." Sixteen-year-old Peter laid in the grass staring up at the stars. The left side of his body being kept warm by the other person laying beside him. They touched from head to toe, even their fingers were linked softly between them._

_"And Lupus." Chris chuckled._

_"Talia says that Lupus is the first werewolf, that he watches over all of us."_

_"My father says the same thing about Orion."_

_"That doesn't make sense. Orion was tracked long before your ancestors began to hunt us." Peter said matter of factly, making Chris laugh even harder._

_"Since when does anything my father says make sense?" He asked._

_"Well he told you to stay away from me. That I'm dangerous. That makes quite a bit of sense." He said, rolling so he hovered over the young hunter, their faces only inches apart._

_"Oh I know you're dangerous." Chris leaned up, biting Peter's bottom lip and tugging on it softly. "But I also know that you wouldn't hurt me."_

_"What makes you so sure about that?" Peter smirked, leaning down and kissing underneath Chris' chin and down his neck._

_"Because you enjoy rebelling against our families and going behind their backs way to much to ruin it by hurting me."_

_"Well put." Peter said then slowly dragged his tongue up his boyfriend's throat. Chris let out a heavy breath, his arms weaving around Peter's body, one around his waist and the other reaching up and tangling in his hair. He pulled Peter down for a kiss and both of them were silent after that, their banter lost, instead being replaced by the euphoric groans of two people connecting with their other half._

* * *

Peter was the first one to move, turning around and reaching for the door handle, hoping to escape without injury.

"Wait." Chris said and locked the door with speed impressive even for a hunter.

Peter turned back around, eyes flashing an icy blue and growling lowly. "Let me out."

"It's pitch black and pouring outside and it's only supposed to get worse. Not even you are immune to drowning. Where are you staying? I'll drive you." He said and Peter stiffened, staring at Chris with a cold calculating stare.

"How do I know you don't just plan on gutting me?"

"You're just going to have to trust me."

"I think I'd rather take my chances with the rain."

"I'm trying to do you a favor. Why can't you just accept that."

"I don't need any favors from you." Peter said, turning his head to look out the window.

"Oh please, you were walking down the side of the road while the entire county is under a flood warning. If anyone else had picked you up you'd be half way home by now instead of sulking." Chris said frustrated and pressed the button that unlocked the doors. "But I'm not going to fight you on this. You want to be stubborn then fine."

Peter crossed his arms "One six two Astoria Lane. My place is about four miles up the road."

The hunter sighed and nodded, pulling back unto the road and beginning to drive towards Peter's house. "You should put on your seat belt."

"Don't push it Chris." Peter gritted out and Chris couldn't help but smile to himself.

* * *

_"You killed him!" Chris yelled angrily "You killed Nathan, he and Kate were due to be married next month! Now she, my father, and everyone other hunter is going to have their arrows aimed right for your head! I can't protect you anymore!"_

_"You were protecting me?" Peter laughed, looking slightly manic, there was still blood on his shirt. "You're a pretty lousy protector considering I was just jumped by your dear future brother in law. I did what I had to to get him off of me."_

_"You could have found a way to disarm him if you wanted to. You didn't have to kill him!"_

_"You're right I didn't but maybe I wanted to!" Peter snapped and Chris stared at him startled, after all, loosing your cool in a fight and actually wanting to kill someone were two completely different things._

_"You don't mean that Pete." Chris shook his head._

_"Maybe I do. Maybe I could have disarmed him without slashing his throat. Maybe he didn't have to die. But maybe I wanted him to because maybe, just maybe I got tired of having Argents treat me and my family like we're a bunch of monsters who can't be trusted!"_

_"If you meant to kill him you wouldn't have called me and asked me to come over." He shook his head,_

_"Well I didn't call you for a lecture either!" Peter snapped, dragging his fingers through his hair, pacing back and forth. Nathan's body still laid at their feet, leaves from the forest floor sticking to the drying blood around his wounds._

_"Then why did you call?" Chris asked, trying to calm himself down._

_"I need your help to clean this up, I can't do it by myself…"_

_"You want me to help you hide the body of my sister's fiancé?" He asked incredulously._

_"Yes."_

_"Are you insane?"_

_"He's already dead! Hiding his body won't hurt him but it might save me from being shot by your fanatical family!"_

_"Do you have any idea what sort of position you're putting me in?"_

_"You love me don't you?" Peter asked and Chris stared at him in shock. They were twenty one now and had been together secretly for many years now but not once had either of them ever said the L word. "Well? Don't you?" Peter prompted._

_"You know I do…" Chris sighed "But this…Peter, this is above you and I. You killed a hunter, a very important one."_

_"No one will ever know it was me. Not if you help me cover my tracks."_

_"Yes they will! I know you like to think my family is incompetent but we aren't! We are good at what we do, especially when we are avenging one of our own. Hiding Nate's body won't do anything but maybe if you run…if you leave Beacon Hills...I don't think they'll chase you…"_

_"You want me to exile myself?" Peter asked stunned._

_"I want you to live."_

_"What you expect me to become an Omega? Live without a Pack, without a family?"_

_"You can find another Pack, maybe your sister has some connections-"_

_"No Pack will take somebody in who has a price on their head from Hunters. If I leave…I will be alone."_

_"I'll go with you." Chris said after a moment of silence. "I'll go and we can start a life together. We're almost twenty, it's time for us to settle down and maybe…maybe I'm tired of sneaking through the shadows."_

_"Settle down?" Peter laughed but it was sarcastic, biting. "A werewolf and a hunter, settle down and what? And start a family? You really think that'll work?"_

_"You said it yourself, I love you and you love me. So why not? Why shouldn't we break away and start our own lives."_

_"You know why." Peter clenched his fists "You know exactly why. It would never work, there's a reason Romeo and Juliet killed themselves in the end."_

_"Oh please spare me the poetics Peter." Chris groaned._

_"All I'm trying to say is that people like us don't get happy endings. Especially not with each other. Maybe you're right, I probably am better off running away on my own. At least then my family can claim ignorance to my actions."_

_"So what, you don't want me to go with you?" Chris asked, trying to hide his hurt and failing miserably._

_"Your father and sister may not come after me if I leave alone but if we leave together they would come after us. Do you really think they would let a hunter disgrace his family by eloping with a werewolf? Besides, we both know we can never work out in the real world."_

_"I know nothing of the sort."_

_"Yes you do. Deep down you know that without the thrill, the rush fueling us we are just to different."_

_"Just because you're a poetic sociopath and I'm-"_

_"A glorified dog catcher? Yes that's exactly why."_

_"In other words you expect me to what? Just forget about you after you leave? Marry some nice Hunter approved woman?"_

_"Yup. Maybe have a kid or two for good measure."_

_"You cannot be serious. Five minutes ago you were going on about not wanting to be a lonely Omega and now you're what, breaking up with me?"_

_"Breaking up would imply that we were actually together."_

_"Dammit Peter you are not doing this to me. You are not going to pretend that these last five years have meant nothing!"_

_"Well maybe if they had meant something you would just help me hide the body instead of forcing me out of my home!" Peter yelled, his eyes flashing._

_"I'm not forcing you out of anything! I'm being realistic!"_

_"You're being a coward! You want to run and hide instead of help me!"_

_Chris took a step back, he could see Peter changing right in front of him. Never before had he been on this side of Peter's volatile temper and it actually frightened him. Even at such a relatively young age Chris had seen horrors that most normal men would faint at but even compared to those Peter was a sight to see. Chris knew his boyfriend was dangerous, maybe even deadly but he had always been spared from that side of him. Until now._

_"I'm only want to keep you alive and keep you safe!"_

_"You want to separate me from my Pack so your family can slaughter me!"_

_"You know that isn't true Pete!"_

_"You're trying to kill me!" Peter growled, his eyes glowing an icy blue instead of their familiar warm gold, a marker of the life he just took. Peter lunged at Chris, his rage controlling him now. And without hesitation Chris' instincts kicked in, he grabbed the weapon that until that moment had laid forgotten in his pocket. He shot it, the weapon discharging and hitting Peter in the chest. Sparks flew everywhere and Peter collapsed to the ground, in his purely human form again._

_"God, Peter." Chris tossed the gun on the ground and kneeled beside him. "I'm sorry, I just, it was instinct-"_

_Peter put a hand to Chris' chest and shoved him away, standing up shakily. "And you people call us the monsters." He said coldly before walking away. Chris swallowed, watching him go until he was out of sight. He stood up, shuffling the leaves and dirt around, trying to hide any traces of his or Peter's presence around the body. It might give Peter a few days' head start out of town…_

* * *

They sat in silence for about five minutes until traffic came to a stand still. There had been an accident up ahead, halting the movement of cars completely while it was being cleaned up. Rain still beat violently on the windows but Peter was contemplating getting out and just walking the rest of the way. There was still two miles left before his house but even walking through a downpour would be more comfortable than this.

Peter was about to suggest this option when Chris' phone rang.

"Hello?" He picked it up "I'm fine, I'm just stuck in traffic. Did you get home before the rain started? Good. I'll see you in a bit." He said and hung up.

"Was that your daughter?" Peter asked after a few moments.

"Yeah. She was worried because I wasn't home yet and all of the news agencies were saying that this is the storm of the decade."

"How sweet." Peter said dryly and Chris sighed.

"She's all I have left."

"Funny how that works out. I'm the one whose family is decimated and yet you're the one who looses everything." Peter smirked

"Ironic huh."

"Irony is using words to express the opposite of the literal meaning. This is more like poetic justice."

"There is no justice in what happened to your family or my own." Chris said evenly. "It was a tragedy that happened because of anger and distrust on both sides. It should have never happened."

"How very mature of you."

"We aren't children anymore. We can't afford to hold onto grudges, the violence has to stop here otherwise the bit of family we both have left aren't going to make it."

"Do you ever wonder?" Peter asked, fiddling with the heat controls, all thoughts of leaving the car forgotten.

"Wonder what?"

"What would have happened if we hadn't hid our relationship when we were children."

Chris raised an eyebrow incredulously "We would have been disowned at best, killed at worst."

"My sister might have understood." Peter shook his head.

"My father wouldn't have."

"Who knows. Maybe you and I could have ushered in a new era of peace between our families."

"I thought you were supposed to be the cynical one."

"I am but just because I'm a cynic doesn't mean that I don't examine all possible outcomes. And however unlikely it may have been, acceptance was always a possibility, just one neither of us ever truly believed in and do you know why that was?"

"No, I don't and do not want to know either. That part of my life is over and I don't want to hear any of your stupid ideas of what we were or weren't or what our motives were."

"Testy testy." Peter scolded and for a brief moment Chris seriously considered punching him.

"Yes Peter I am testy. What we had, whatever you and I were, it's over now. And I don't enjoy dwelling on the past or contemplating all of the mistakes I've made or what could have been. It's a waste of time and only creates regret."

"Reliving our past is not a waste of time. It allows us to better make decisions about our future. We learn from our mistakes and not make them again."

"This coming from the man that wakes up from a six year vegetative state and goes on a killing spree?"

"Not my finest moment but I plead temporary insanity."

"You were angry Peter not insane. You always did stupid things when you're angry." He sighed.

"It wasn't just anger. It was grief and guilt. It was my fault that your sister set that fire and yet here I am, one of the few survivors." Peter said and looked out the window. "You were right about one thing, there was no justice in that fire. If there was, I would have died too."

"Well I'm sorry I couldn't accommodate you."

"What?" Peter looked at him with genuine confusion.

Chris paused and looked back at him "You don't know?"

"Know what?"

"I'm the one who pulled you out of the fire Peter."

* * *

_Years had gone by since he saw Peter last and eventually the pain lessened. Now he could even go almost a whole day without thinking of him more than once. He had moved on with his life, gotten married to a strong woman who had earned his respect countless times over. He even had a daughter, a little girl who became his life. And for a while things were working out, he finally thought he could live a happy life even without Peter in it._

_Just as he was beginning to convince himself that was true he heard the rumors traveling around town. Peter Hale had returned to Beacon Hills, after almost fifteen years, he was back and just like that Chris' carefully built world was thrown back into turmoil._

_At first he didn't want to believe it was true. Peter wasn't that stupid, he wouldn't come back home when he knew that Gerard and Kate would do almost anything to see him dead. Peter wouldn't do that..._

_Hell, yes he would. Chris knew better than anyone that boundaries meant nothing to Peter. Their fling, because Chris refused to call it a relationship anymore, was the perfect example of that._

_After coming to terms with the fact that Peter really was back in Beacon Hills, he then hoped that it was only temporary, that he was just passing through and would be gone before any more blood was shed._

_This hope was, of course, squashed one Saturday morning while he was grocery shopping with Allison. She was only ten years old at the time and begging him to buy her some strange sort of fruit snack that rolls._

_"Please daddy," she begged, holding the box out._

_Chris took it and read the ingredients "There isn't even any real food in these."_

_"Pretty please with cherries on top?" She looked up to her father, her big brown eyes wide and pleading._

_"Don't tell your mother." Chris said and tossed the Fruit snacks in the cart._

_"You always did have a weakness for puppy dog eyes." A voice said from behind Chris, making him freeze up._

_"I don't know what you mean." He said, careful to keep his tone and heart rate steady._

_"Of course you don't." Peter rolled his eyes as if he didn't expect anything better. He was leaning on a grocery cart that was full of food and toiletries._

_"You look like you're planning on getting settled." Chris said slowly._

_"Oh you know, life as a loner is quite depressing. I got bored of it."_

_"You got bored? After over a decade?" He asked incredulously._

_"Daddy, who's this?" Allison asked, looking between her father and Peter warily._

_"I'm nobody." Peter said slowly, even though he was answering Allison he didn't break eye contact with Chris. They stared at each other for a moment longer before Peter turned around, walking out of the isle after grabbing a box of cereal._

_Chris knew that Peter's return to Beacon Hills would cause problems, arguments and maybe even spark violence but he never expected what would happen next._

_He finished grocery shopping and went home, putting the groceries away while Victoria helped Allison do some homework. As he put the last item away he realized that he forgot to buy some milk, his run in with Peter shaking him up more than he'd like to admit._

_"Honey I forgot something at the store. I'll be back in ten minutes." He yelled upstairs as he left. It was while he was driving to the store again that he noticed the smoke. It took only seconds for him to realize where it was coming from. He swerved the car into the woods, his own safety all but forgotten as he dodged trees, pushing down the gas until it hit the floor. The only thing on his mind was to get to the Hale house as fast as possible._

_By the time he got there the entire house was up in flames. The car was barely parked when Chris exited, running towards the house, he stopped a few feet away when he saw his sister._

_"Kate? What are you doing here?" He asked_

_"I saw the smoke." She said simply and maybe if he hadn't been so focused on the flames, on who was undoubtedly inside the inferno, he would have seen through her deception. He started towards the house but she grabbed his arm "Whoa there, what are you doing?"_

_"There are people in there!"_

_"There are werewolves in there."_

_"That doesn't mean they don't deserve saving." He said, ripping his arm away from her and running into the blaze. It was unbelievably hot, the smoke burning through his lungs and he could barely see six inches in front of him. He heard children and adults screaming but couldn't quite pin point where the cries were coming from. He tried to find someone, his heart really only hoped for one person but he knew that he couldn't just walk past someone else either._

_"Hello?" He called "Can anyone hear me!" There was no direct answer, the cries growing fainter and fainter. It was as he entered the kitchen, or at least what he thought was the kitchen, the smoke made it hard to tell, that he tripped over something. He fell to his knees, the tile floor painfully hot, burning his hands. He looked to his right and realized that what he had tripped over was in fact Peter. He had passed out, not even the abilities given to him by his werewolf nature could protect him against smoke inhalation. One side of his face was pressed against the heated tiles, the smell of burning flesh even stronger than the smoke._

_Chris grabbed Peter, putting him over his shoulders and struggling to carry him out of the burning house. By now almost all cries had ceased, the house was eerily quiet, only the sounds of crackling flames and breaking foundations were left. Falling ceilings or new walls of flames cut him off at least once or twice but eventually he made it through the doorway, his lungs gasping for the fresh air._

_He was vaguely aware of the sirens surrounding them, the fire trucks and paramedics finally arriving. Now that they were clear of the house though Chris felt his head swimming, the smoke and the heat finally getting to him. Everything went black, he and Peter falling to the grass unconscious._

_When he woke up several hours later he was in the hospital. Victoria was angry with him, she couldn't understand why he'd risk his life for those creatures. Allison thought he was a hero, to young to understand the complexities of the situation. And Chris, Chris felt guilty. He had heard about Peter's condition, that he was completely comatose and he couldn't help but ask himself, if he had only been a minute sooner, could he have gotten there in time?_

_He never got the chance to find out the answer. At Victoria's insistence they moved away from Beacon Hills less than a month later._

* * *

Peter was quiet for the rest of the ride after that. He opened his mouth a few times as if to say something but never went through with it. Had they been young again Chris would have teased him, Peter was rarely speechless after all.

"Is this it?" Chris asked, pulling up in front of a downtown apartment building. The rain had let up a bit and now was only a steady drizzle.

"Yeah, you can park around back."

"Why would I park?" He frowned.

"Because" Peter reached forward and plucked the cell phone out of Chris' pocket, turning it on and typing on it but never breaking eye contact. "You're coming inside with me." He said and handed the phone back to Chris, a draft of a text message was on the screen, addressed to Allison and read simply; _Will be home later than expected. Don't wait up._

Chris smirked and without hesitating pressed send.

* * *

**Well there it is! I hoped you liked it and did not think it was horrendously awful and weird. And to clarify some things right quick, I know that a few things might have confused some people, Allison meeting Peter at the grocery store then not remembering him when she's older and dress shopping is one thing but I mean come on, do you remember all your parents old friends that they introduced you to once when you were little? Probably not. And I also felt like Kate needed at least some sort of motivation for her mass murder instead of just pure prejudice.**

**And I'm sorry to those who hoped for some epic make out/sex scene at the end but I really liked how this more open ended conclusion felt.**

**So if you actually got this far, thank you and please REVIEW! If I get a good response I might write more Argale stories.**


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